Reviewer:
Adakian
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February 15, 2024
Subject:
A Road picture with a dark side
A dark, cynical road movie with Rip Torn as a mid-level, popular country singer on the Southern stretch of a three-month tour hitting radio stations, country nightclubs, and jamborees.
Torn does a bravura job as a colorful, acerbic man who takes all he can from everyone around him and expects his road manager to 'fix' it all.
Shot on location in and around Selma, Alabama with a lot of non-actors or little-known actors. There is a real sense of unfeigned reality to the narrative as Torn tears his way through his misbegotten life filled with womanizing, drinking, popping pills, smoking weed, making and breaking promises, and running from his problems.
Music written by famed Shel Silverstein (who was good friends with screenwriter Don Carpenter) as well as Ian & Sylvia.
There's no good ending here, it's nearly noir-ish at the conclusion. Would make a good double-header with Robert Altman's 1975 film Nashville.